Where did jazz originate? We have all done this at one time or another, heard a beat on a drum or musical notes blown from a saxophone or trumpet and started bobbing your head and tapping your foot to the rhythm of the music. That’s Jazz the cool sound, ragtime, blues or hip-hop you're snapping your fingers to. It’s often been said that Jazz is the only art form to originate in the United States. Well, that is not exactly true. Jazz was a music that was played or sung by Africans slaves who were taken from their villages and sold in America in the 18th and 19th century to work on large plantations. An after laboring in the fields the people would come together and sing, trying to forget fears and also teach their young about the land and culture they came from. During the late 1800’s, different forms and variations of musical sounds began to flow throughout the Southern United States. This was part of the cultural lifestyle that immigrants brought from their countries to the land that was the fusion of cultures, America. Jazz music began to flourish from the combination of music and rhythms from African folk to Caribbean and black American music, which has been a very strong culture of singing and dancing. Early jazz or the Blues music, was performed by black musicians who were full of a soulful and heartrending composition with simple and repeated harmonies. The Blues became widespread in the American South because the south had the largest number of plantations and slaves. This gave the jazz instrumentalists the opportunity to utilize the blues as a vehicle for improvisation.
Aside from the musical influences Africa, Latino and the Caribbean, the sound of woodwind instruments like the saxophone and the clarinet helped compel the sound of jazz in motion. By the 19th century, jazz became a windfall and its magical sound became influenced by musicians with classical backgrounds and training. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries evolved a musical style called Ragtime and its popularity spread quickly through parts of the United States. This syncopated music was energetic and lively and different because it was primarily a solo piano style and was the immediate precursor to jazz. The genre has its origins in African-American communities like St. Louis and naturally, people loved it. From New Orleans came a more profound Jazz sound, developed and polished by the French Creole or people of Caribbean origin. New Orleans had its own tradition of band music sometimes referred to as classic/traditional jazz or even Dixieland jazz. While being the musical home of some of the greatest composers and players. These included cornetists Buddy Bolden and King Oliver, cornetist and trumpeter Louis Armstrong and pianist Jelly Roll Morton among others. As jazz spread from New Orleans to other parts of the country. Radio became a popular feature and commercial radio stations broadcasted live performances into the homes, from New Orleans, St Louis, Chicago and New York city. Jazz was actually widely appreciated as an important art form in Europe even before it gained popularity in the United States. Today, with variations in style and music, musicians from all over the world are making major contributions to jazz music.